The usual present-day telephone answering machine includes a first magnetic tape mechanism which drives a first magnetic tape on which an outgoing message (OGM) is pre-recorded, and a separate magnetic tape mechanism which drives a second magnetic tape on which the incoming messages (ICM) received from calling parties are recorded.
When a telephone call is received, the conventional telephone answering machine answers the telephone and causes the pre-recorded announcement message (OGM) on the first magnetic tape to be transmitted over the telephone line to the calling party. At the end of the OGM, the conventional machine automatically enters a recording mode, and the incoming message (ICM) from the calling party is recorded on the second magnetic tape. The second magnetic tape mechanism in the conventional machine is controlled so that all the messages received from the calling parties are successively recorded on the second magnetic tape.
Attempts have been made in the past to simplify the telephone answering machine by using a single tape driven by a single tape drive mechanism on which both the OGM and the ICM's are recorded. Such a machine is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,309,571 and 4,421,954.
The telephone answering machine described in the patents includes, for example, a magnetic tape mechanism having a stop mode, a rewind mode, a playback mode, and a fast-forward mode. The automatic telephone answering machine operates by automatically coupling the magnetic tape mechanism to an associated telephone line upon the detection of a ring signal on the telephone line; and by setting the magnetic tape mechanism to its playback mode so that a pre-recorded OGM recorded on the magnetic tape may be transmitted over the telephone line to the calling party. At the completion of the OGM, and if no previous ICM's have been recorded, the mechanism then records the ICM from the calling party at a location directly following the OGM. If there have been previously recorded ICM's, the mechanism is set to its fast-forward mode until the tape is driven to a location beyond the last previously recorded ICM, and the mechanism is then set to its recording mode so that the ICM from the calling party may be recorded at that location. At the end of each ICM, the magnetic tape mechanism is set to its rewind mode, and when the tape has been rewound to a point corresponding to the beginning of the recorded OGM, the mechanism is set to its stop mode, thereby conditioning the machine to answer the call from any subsequent calling party and to repeat the cycle described above.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a simple microcomputer controlled telephone answering machine in which the controls described in the preceding paragraph may be effectuated in a simple and uncomplicated manner and by a minimum of control circuitry.